Thursday, September 15, 2011

Here I Go Again

Yes I realize I’ve been gone forever, but that’s what summer break is for, right? So what have you missed? Not a whole lot I must confess… Several ballgames including the return of Stephen Strasburg and Davey Johnson to the Nationals bench (yay!!) … Bacon jam (double yay!!)… Some late nights finishing up group and individual projects (there is no rest for the wicked… I mean the weary… of course I mean the weary…) and the mundane list goes on…

But now it’s back to class and the learning… We’re about 4 weeks in and this is as good a time as any to assess…

I am still processing the summer residencies. Certainly the Dominican trip has generated work on my end that is unexpected as well as some new friends. From the intial paper I wrote, I am now expanding the focus from high-level strategy to develop some tactical work products and processes which may ultimately form the basis for a business plan. I am considering entering the GWU Business Plan Competition this winter.

The timing is pretty good for contemplating corporate social responsibility and the role it plays as well as the role it should not play in its community. There is a need to put a business spin on social responsibility efforts and consider what investments show real returns. Bill Gates at the annual meeting of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation admitted that while they are pouring large dollar amounts into charitable work and good work, they are not maintaining good performance metrics or doing strong program management. Ding!

For the last 10 years, I have been in a role like this and now I learn that there is a need for this external to the consulting work I have been doing for the Feds… Thank YOU!!! Yes, it excited me to no end. More to come in the near term so watch this space.

I and the rest of my cohort have met the incoming World Executive MBA class and they are a force to be reckoned with. Suffice to say I am glad to have started the program in Fall 2010 because I don’t think I could have competed with this group. I am looking forward to sharing the year with them and learning with them.

My plan for this year as far as this blog goes is to post more albeit shorter, stream-of-consciousness posts. If there’s something you’re dying to know about business school or baseball and you think I have an opinion, feel free to ask. Sometimes I am less creative than others… Especially during accounting class… Although I have an excellent professor…

I am thankful to be able to see light at the end of the tunnel… Looking forward to new challenges (maybe even the math ones)… and especially looking forward to big life changes in 2012!

P.S. As for the bacon jam, a lucky few will be receiving this as part of their Christmas/Hannukah gifts (is giving bacon for Hannukah bad form?)… For others, all I can tell you is get yourself to the Dupont Circle farmers market which is the first place I discovered it… Oh yeah… There may be a few recipes online as well… For those creative types among you…